EXTRA CRITICUM

I Live in New Jersey or My Inner Snob

I arrived in Brooklyn when I was 22. It was the presidency of George Bush the Elder (remember him?). I was as naïve and frightened as any boy who has spent his entire life in school would be.

For me, it all happened there. I became an actor. I unbecame an actor. I found my calling as a playwright. I married twice - once badly, once well. My son was born there. Hell, I was practically born there. And now I was leaving. For NEW JERSEY (Rolo, please add ominous organ sound).

Obama's NEA Calls on Artists to "Motivate Change." Say, what?!

So, under the Obama administration's lead, the National Endowment for the Arts recently hosted a conference call with 75 arts leaders from across the nation, during which artists were called upon to "make work that will support the efforts underway in this administration's agenda."

You heard me. Here's just one chilling excerpt:

More Films About the Human Condition, Please

This week I watched two films, Cold Souls in the theater, and King of Kong in my home. They couldn't be more different--Cold Souls is a comedy-drama about an actor putting his soul in storage, King of Kong is a documentary about the rivalry between two video gamers--but they made me ask the same question: what is it that makes me, me.

Interview with Robert McKee on Storylink

Interesting interview with screenwriting guru Robert McKee on Storylink. Here's one tidbit on why television may be experiencing a golden age in the U.S.:

Julia Child vs. Don Draper

The hot TV series of the moment, Mad Men, is set in 1963, the same year that Julia Child debuted on public television with The French Chef. Coincidentally, Child is a hot pop culture icon again (not that she ever really went cold), thanks to the book and film Julie & Julia. Would she have any affinity for Mad Men’s impeccably dressed but emotionally hollow protagonist Don Draper?

While waiting for another Mad Men episode, I started in on a “best of” DVD collection of The French Chef, which opens with perhaps her most famous episode, “The Potato Show.” This is the one in which she tries to flip a large potato pancake, which breaks apart on the way down and ends up half outside the pan. “You can pick it up when you’re alone in the kitchen,” she says to the camera as she grabs the errant pieces and puts them back in the pan. “Who is going to see?”

Some Thoughts on Catharsis and MAD MEN

Watching DVDs of Matthew Weiner's brilliant show, Mad Men lately and continue to find myself thinking about catharsis and what this country has just been through over the past eight years.

It has been pointed out by more keen observers than I, that a kind of illness had gripped the nation under the last regime and that amorality and unbridled cynicism in a society quite effectively trickles down... much moreso than money, for example.

Abu Ghraib is just one example of the corrosive and corrupting influence of a system that values power and power-grabbing above basic decency and humanity. (In short, the bad boys' attitude in the White House infected the world view of those young cadets serving in Iraq.)

Is it just me, or can Mad Men be viewed as a kind of opportunity for healing in a post-Bush era?

Why Do I Love These Shots?

[Cross-posted at alifeswork.wordpress.com] 

I was looking through the Extracriticum archive and being a person who would rather look at images than read, I clicked on Rolando Teco's "Why Do I Like This Shot?" It made me think of a question I'm sometimes asked (usually by fellow filmmakers) when I screen one of my films. "What's your favorite shot?"

I can't really choose one, but here's two of many. To say that they are on the cutting floor isn't quite accurate. These shots were known to be unusable from the get go.

The theater critic as death panel

Ouch! I would hate to have anything to do with a performance that causes a critic to break down and confess, in print, that he's abandoned his longtime policy of not walking out on a show before the end:

In the past few years, I have softened my stance on this issue because I have come to believe that there is a point of no return, when hope of a recovery is lost. When the patient dies, it’s not unreasonable for the rest of us, especially those who had to listen to the yammering fool, to try to move on.

Mad Men: Keep it to yourself

Spoilers from “Out of Town,” the third-season premiere of Mad Men, ahead:

Unless the two-headed accounts department storyline wraps up very quickly, a major theme in Mad Men’s third season will be Pete’s struggle to keep his childish and petulant personality from sabotaging his career. Almost every TV series makes the argument that you can’t really change your personality; what makes Mad Men more intriguing is the idea that you can still change your behavior (and outward appearance) so as to keep your true personality under wraps.

A "Second Look" at DIVA?

Rolando Teco and I will be re-viewing the French film Diva for the "Second Look" feature. Any one else interested in joining us? Plan to watch the film between now and Labor Day. Any takers?

I'll Distribute It Myself, Thank You Very Much

I just read an editorial in the Los Angeles Times by Martin Scorsese addressed to Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It seems LACMA is canceling its weekend film program, and this gets under the maestro's skin. Here’s his piece.

http://tinyurl.com/ml4c3v

I’d like to add a few things. I hope Marty won’t mind.

This is further proof, if any more is needed, that Hollywood hates film. It loves products and entertainment and the revenue those generate. But it hates films.

Simple exercise for a complicated dramaturgical problem

For all the playwrights and screenwriters here on E.C.:

1. Take a page of dialogue from one of your plays that has three characters or more speaking to one another.
2. Using liquid white-out, blank out all the names.
3. Make a Xerox copy of that page.
4. Hand it to a fellow playwright, director or actor – someone who reads a lot of plays.
5. Ask: how many people are speaking on this page? If they can’t tell you the number of people speaking, there’s a problem, no?

The complexities of language, and our personal choice of wording, phrasing, syntax, etc., is informed by our education, religion, age, culture, politics, familial hierarchy, gender, sexuality, ancestry, etc. In short, our personal use of language is as unique to each of us as our fingerprints. No two people speak the same. Why should they appear the same, then, on paper? The answer to that is simple: they shouldn't.

My first "Fairly OddParents" episode, Friday night on Nickelodeon!

Dear friends - Some exciting news: my very first "Fairly OddParents" episode, "Fly Boy," premieres this week!  It's showing on Nickelodeon this coming Friday night, August 14.  Nickelodeon's broadcasting it in L.A. at 6 PM, but please check your local listings to find out when it's showing in your area.

"Fly Boy" was sneak-previewed to a large and wildly appreciative audience at Comic-Con this year, and I'm now delighted to have the chance to share it with you.  I'm really proud of the episode, so I hope you can tune in and check out my TV writing debut.

All the best,
Ed

"The Way In": In Praise of Muppets.

How did I get here?  What was my “Way In” to theater and TV?  Simple: the puppets made me do it.

No, don’t run away.  I’m serious.  The reason I’m involved with theater or TV in the first place is because of… puppets. 

See, at an early age, my mom plunked me down in front of the TV and I watched things like Bugs Bunny, and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Underdog, Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Flintstones (also Nixon’s resignation – but that’s another story).  I loved TV, and I loved all those shows.  But back then my favorite show, my very favorite show of all… was Sesame Street. 

Ah Batvia!

As many of you who read this blog already know, I've been working for years with friend and collaborator Katherine Burger on a totally irrerevernt and insane musical comedy called Legends of Batvia. Well, finally, I think both Katherine and I have managed to overcome our fear... fear of it not being good enough, not ready, not done, not a real musical, blah, blah, blah... and we've scheduled a readthrough at Actors & Writers in upstate New York.

And I can't wait. It's still a ways off so I've stil got time to tinker and compose those few missing melodies that remain, but I'm really excited about it. If you think you may find yourself in the Woodstock area on October 24th, please join us. Here's a link to the Actors & Writers site.

Oh, and if you misssed my October post about the process of collaborating with Katherine, you can can read that here. [See: The Joy of Collaboration]